psychology

This week, in our ongoing series on how to do research in the major disciplines at IU East, we will look at psychology. Psychology courses can have a lot of potential research topics – you might be looking for a theorist, a type of treatment, historical issues in psychology, or approach from a mental health perspective. Most types of psychology research are well supported by the general techniques we explored at the beginning of this series. Several databases are tailored for this, including PsycINFO and ProQuest Psychology. If you are interested in a historical topic, a database like JSTOR may also be of value. All of our other psychology-related databases can be found here. So, for example, if we were … Continued

October 6th – 12th is National Mental Health Awareness Week, a yearly effort by the National Alliance on Mental Illness to foster discussion and understanding for people with mental illnesses. They focus on grassroots efforts and community-level events to spread awareness, and the local NAMI organization has events planned for Richmond. But what if you want to dig deeper? As always, the library is a great source for high-quality information. From major databases like ProQuest Psychology and PsycInfo to the National Institute of Health’s PubMed Central, we have a staggering number of articles on mental illness and health. And if books are more your thing, databases like eBrary contain dozens of titles like: Empowering People with Severe Mental Illness: A … Continued

As you may have heard, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the American Psychological Association’s primary mental health handbook, has recently published a new edition. It’s been a long time in coming – the DSM-IV came out in 1994 (it was revised in 2000). This reference work is the primary tool for diagnosing and recommending treatment for mental disorders across the spectrum, and has been since the first edition came out in 1952. It is the single most important reference book for anyone in a psychology profession. The classification system has been completely retooled, eliminating the infamous five axes of the previous edition – personality disorders are no longer separated as rigidly from other types of psychiatric disorders. … Continued

Last week we looked at improving the library collection with a new database, but our existing databases are anything but stagnant! New, up-to-date content is being added to them all the time. One recent example is Wiley Online Library, which has just added the Handbook of Psychology to its extensive list of interdisciplinary titles. The WOL has always been a good source for psychology topics, boasting ebooks and journals like Clinical Psychologist, Psychology in the Schools, and the Encyclopedia of Positive Psychology. But the 12 volume Handbook is an especially good source. Updating the very popular and award-winning first edition, the ebook version offers searching by topic or keyword, hyperlinked cross references, and separate windows for viewing the index and … Continued

May is Mental Health Month, so library staff want to share some relevant resources in psychology and mental wellness. Online journals provide current, readily accessible articles. We subscribe to two major databases that cover psychological issues: ProQuest Psychology Journals and PsycINFO from EBSCOhost (see last week’s blog for more on EBSCO). Both are very user-friendly and have a wealth of full text information. If currency isn’t an issue, JSTOR can also be a powerful database, but it doesn’t feature articles from the last few years like ProQuest and EBSCO do. You also might want to use PubMed Central, the National Institute of Health’s free digital archive. Additionally, we also have a wide selection of books and e-books, a sampling … Continued